ESPN on the Seattle Seahawks: ‘This is a bizarro football world’

As we get closer and closer to the start of the NFL season, all eyes are on the Seattle Seahawks. There’s an energy, a positivity, an optimistic enthusiasm pouring out of Renton. One of the youngest squads in the National Football League, the Hawks have their sights set on the Super Bowl — and nothing can stand in their way.

Not Percy Harvin’s hip surgery. Not Bruce Irvin’s PED suspension. Not any national naysayers or pessimistic press.

And certainly not the ticky-tacky off-field issues that can so easily distract and disrupt a team.

How do they do it? What do they do differently? The answer is: just about everything. Since taking the reins in 2010, head coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider have implemented drastic cultural changes that have transformed Seattle’s locker room and could lay the foundation for the future of the NFL.

The big idea is that happy players make for better players. Everyone in the facility, from coaches and players to personal assistants and valets, is expected to follow Carroll’s mantras regarding positivity of thought, words and actions. “Do your job better than it has ever been done before,” he tells them. Yelling and swearing are frowned upon, and every media interview with a player or coach ends with a thank-you to the reporter. And in a trial program entering its second year, a group of 15 to 20 players is undergoing Neurotopia brain-performance testing and has worked with (team psychologist Mike) Gervais to create status profiles — updated every week on an iPad app — of what’s going on in their lives, how much sleep they’re getting, their goals and how they’re dealing with stressors.

Even as we re-examine the mental health of players in this kinder, gentler era of the sport, this is a bizarro football world. It certainly helps that Carroll has found a kindred spirit and advocate in second-year star QB Russell Wilson, who schedules individual weekly sessions with Gervais. “We do imagery work and talk about having that innovative mindset of being special,” Wilson says. “We talk about being in the moment and increasing chaos throughout practice, so when I go into the game, everything is relaxed.”

That’s a short excerpt from reporter Alyssa Roenigk’s new piece in this week’s ESPN Mag, which takes a deep look at the Hawks’ locker room culture. From meditation to yoga to therapy to monitoring sleep patterns, the Seattle Seahawks have embraced unorthodox techniques to help them be successful.